1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for performing oilfield operations relating to subterranean formations having reservoirs therein. More particularly, the invention relates to techniques for performing drilling operations involving an analysis of drilling equipment, drilling conditions and other oilfield parameters that impact the drilling operations.
2. Background of the Related Art
Oilfield operations, such as surveying, drilling, wireline testing, completions and production, are typically performed to locate and gather valuable downhole fluids. As shown in FIG. 1A, surveys are often performed using acquisition methodologies, such as seismic scanners to generate maps of underground structures. These structures are often analyzed to determine the presence of subterranean assets, such as valuable fluids or minerals. This information is used to assess the underground structures and locate the formations containing the desired subterranean assets. Data collected from the acquisition methodologies may be evaluated and analyzed to determine whether such valuable items are present, and if they are reasonably accessible.
As shown in FIG. 1B-1D, one or more wellsites may be positioned along the underground structures to gather valuable fluids from the subterranean reservoirs. The wellsites are provided with tools capable of locating and removing hydrocarbons from the subterranean reservoirs. As shown in FIG. 1B, drilling tools are typically advanced from the oil rigs and into the earth along a given path to locate the valuable downhole fluids. During the drilling operation, the drilling tool may perform downhole measurements to investigate downhole conditions. In some cases, as shown in FIG. 1C, the drilling tool is removed and a wireline tool is deployed into the wellbore to perform additional downhole testing. Throughout this document, the term “wellbore” is used interchangeably with the term “borehole.”
After the drilling operation is complete, the well may then be prepared for production. As shown in FIG. 1D, wellbore completions equipment is deployed into the wellbore to complete the well in preparation for the production of fluid therethrough. Fluid is then drawn from downhole reservoirs, into the wellbore and flows to the surface. Production facilities are positioned at surface locations to collect the hydrocarbons from the wellsite(s). Fluid drawn from the subterranean reservoir(s) passes to the production facilities via transport mechanisms, such as tubing. Various equipment may be positioned about the oilfield to monitor oilfield parameters and/or to manipulate the oilfield operations.
During the oilfield operations, data is typically collected for analysis and/or monitoring of the oilfield operations. Such data may include, for example, subterranean formation, equipment, historical and/or other data. Data concerning the subterranean formation is collected using a variety of sources. Such formation data may be static or dynamic. Static data relates to formation structure and geological stratigraphy that defines the geological structure of the subterranean formation. Dynamic data relates to fluids flowing through the geologic structures of the subterranean formation. Such static and/or dynamic data may be collected to learn more about the formations and the valuable assets contained therein.
Sources used to collect static data may be seismic tools, such as a seismic truck that sends compression waves into the earth as shown in FIG. 1A. These waves are measured to characterize changes in the density of the geological structure at different depths. This information may be used to generate basic structural maps of the subterranean formation. Other static measurements may be gathered using core sampling and well logging techniques. Core samples are used to take physical specimens of the formation at various depths as shown in FIG. 1B. Well logging involves deployment of a downhole tool into the wellbore to collect various downhole measurements, such as density, resistivity, etc., at various depths. Such well logging may be performed using, for example, the drilling tool of FIG. 1B and/or the wireline tool of FIG. 1C. Once the well is formed and completed, fluid flows to the surface using production tubing as shown in FIG. 1D. As fluid passes to the surface, various dynamic measurements, such as fluid flow rates, pressure and composition may be monitored. These parameters may be used to determine various characteristics of the subterranean formation.
Sensors may be positioned about the oilfield to collect data relating to various oilfield operations. For example, sensors in the wellbore may monitor fluid composition, sensors located along the flow path may monitor flow rates and sensors at the processing facility may monitor fluids collected. Other sensors may be provided to monitor downhole, surface, equipment or other conditions. The monitored data is often used to make decisions at various locations of the oilfield at various times. Data collected by these sensors may be further analyzed and processed. Data may be collected and used for current or future operations. When used for future operations at the same or other locations, such data may sometimes be referred to as historical data.
The processed data may be used to predict downhole conditions, and make decisions concerning oilfield operations. Such decisions may involve well planning, well targeting, well completions, operating levels, production rates and other configurations. Often this information is used to determine when to drill new wells, re-complete existing wells or alter wellbore production.
Data from one or more wellbores may be analyzed to plan or predict various outcomes at a given wellbore. In some cases, the data from neighboring wellbores, or wellbores with similar conditions or equipment is used to predict how a well will perform. There are usually a large number of variables and large quantities of data to consider in analyzing wellbore operations. It is, therefore, often useful to model the behavior of the oilfield operation to determine the desired course of action. During the ongoing operations, the operating conditions may need adjustment as conditions change and new information is received.
Techniques have been developed to model the behavior of geological structures, downhole reservoirs, wellbores, surface facilities as well as other portions of the oilfield operation. Examples of modeling techniques are shown in patent/application Nos. U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,519, WO2004049216, WO1999/064896, U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,837, US2003/0216897, US2003/0132934, US20050149307 and US2006/0197759. Typically, existing modeling techniques have been used to analyze only specific portions of the oilfield operation. More recently, attempts have been made to use more than one model in analyzing certain oilfield operations. See, for example, U.S. patent/application Nos. U.S. Pat. No. 5,698,0940, WO04049216, 20040220846, Ser. No. 10/586,283, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,197.
Techniques have also been developed to predict and/or plan certain oilfield operations, such as drilling operations. Examples of techniques for generating drilling plans are provided in U.S. Patent/Application Nos. 20050236184, 20050211468, 20050228905, 20050209886, and 20050209836. Some drilling techniques involve controlling the drilling operation. Examples of such drilling techniques are shown in Patent/Application Nos. GB2392931 and GB2411669. Other drilling techniques seek to provide real-time drilling operations. Examples of techniques purporting to provide real-time drilling are described in U.S. Paten/application Nos. 7,079,952, 6,266,619, 5,899,958, 5,139,094, 7,003,439 and 5,680,906.
Despite the development and advancement of various aspects of oilfield planning, there remains a need to provide techniques capable of designing and implementing drilling operations based on a complex analysis of a wide variety of parameters affecting oilfield operations. It is desirable that such a complex analysis of oilfield parameters and their impact on the drilling operation be performed in real-time. It is further desirable that such techniques enable real-time data flow to and/or from a variety of sources (i.e. internal and/or external). Such techniques preferably would be capable of one of more of the following, among others: selectively manipulating data to facilitate data flow, automatically and/or manually translating and/or converting the data, providing visualization of data and/or outputs, selectively accessing a given number of a variety of servers, selectively accessing data flow channels, providing integrated processing of selected data in a single operation, enabling direct access to real-time data sources without requiring intermediaries, displaying data and/or outputs in one or more canvases (such as 2D, 3D, Well Section), processing a wide variety of data of various formats, implementing (in an automatic, manual, real-time or other fashion) drilling commands based on data, updating displays of drilling data (locally or remotely) and the earth model as new data is acquired from downhole instruments or based upon the data stored in the servers, and automatically and/or manually tuning the rendering of the live and historical data in other contexts (such as geological, geophysical) in a manner that meets/exceeds the performance needs.
Identifying the risks associated with drilling a well is probably the most subjective process in well planning today. This is based on a person recognizing part of a technical well design that is out of place relative to the earth properties or mechanical equipment to be used to drill the well. The identification of any risks is brought about by integrating all of the well, earth, and equipment information in the mind of a person and mentally sifting through all of the information, mapping the interdependencies, and based solely on personal experience extracting which parts of the project pose what potential risks to the overall success of that project. This is tremendously sensitive to human bias, the individual's ability to remember and integrate all of the data in their mind, and the individuals experience to enable them to recognize the conditions that trigger each drilling risk. Most people are not equipped to do this and those that do are very inconsistent unless strict process and checklists are followed. Some drilling risk software systems are in existence today, but the same human process in required to identify and assess the likelihood of each individual risk and the consequences. Those systems are simply a computer system for manually recording the results of the risk identification process.
Conventional software systems for automatic well planning may include a risk assessment component. This component automatically assesses risks associated with the technical well design decisions in relation to the earth's geology and geomechanical properties and in relation to the mechanical limitations of the equipment specified or recommended for use.
When users have identified and captured drilling risks for drilling a given well, no prescribed standard visualization techniques exist to add value to the risk information already created. Some techniques exist for locating an individual risk event at a specified measured depth or depth interval by using some type of symbol or shape and pattern combination in a three-dimensional (3D) space.